Huge panics and scares that never quite happened

mike65

Remember Bovine spongiform encephalopathy/BSE aka Mad Cow Disease and its human variation variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?

The latter was going to be the death of all meat eaters you'd have thought such was some of the hysteria 15-20 years ago with talk of hundreds of thousands to perish (the Daily Mail was carrying stories about it only 14 months back) . Typically enough scientists refuse to rule out a long term threat suggesting it could take up to 50 years for vCJD to become apparent in most of those who have eaten infected meat. People have died, about 165 of 175 diagnosed but the diagnosis rate is steady at 2 per year since 2008, I suspect most of us can sleep easily.

What other "OMG we're all gonna die" stories are out there? Avian Flu?, Chernobyl? Mobile phone transmission cancer (that's gone very quite now everyone uses them)?

GastroBoy

Twink posing for Playboy......*shudder*

irishgeo

mike65 wrote: »

Remember Bovine spongiform encephalopathy/BSE aka Mad Cow Disease and its human variation variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?

The latter was going to be the death of all meat eaters you'd have thought such was some of the hysteria 15-20 years ago with talk of hundreds of thousands to perish (the Daily Mail was carrying stories about it only 14 months back) . Typically enough scientists refuse to rule out a long term threat suggesting it could take up to 50 years for vCJD to become apparent in most of those who have eaten infected meat. People have died, about 165 of 175 diagnosed but the diagnosis rate is steady at 2 per year since 2008, I suspect most of us can sleep easily.

What other "OMG we're all gonna die" stories are out there? Avian Flu?, Chernobyl? Mobile phone transmission cancer (that's gone very quite now everyone uses them)?

the mayans , Y2K, the next asteroid on collision course with us.

Hande hoche!

SARS?

keano_afc

Y2K.

Load of hullabuloo.

Earthhorse

Millenium Bug.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

nothing happened at y2k because of the billion man hours of work that went into making sure nothing happened

1ZRed

Mayan 2012 "prophesy".


So disappointed

Microwaves - emit radiation and give you cancer

Ciaran_B

Global Warming/Climate Change
Acid Rain
Hole in Ozone layer
Bird Flu

And yet we're all still here. Humanity 1 - Panic Mongers 0

mirwillbeback

Herpes and Chlamydia.

She was actually just a really friendly girl.

davet82

smoking and unprotected sex :rolleyes:

MagicSean

People seem to be confusing stuff that was panic mongering with stuff that was prevented.

Duggy747

In the 70's we were supposed to see a new ice age.

In the 90's it was the Ozone layer

In the 00's it was Global Warming

Now, it's Climate Change.

Next, it's Lukewarm Universe.

davet82

Duggy747 wrote: »

Next, it's Lukewarm Universe.

that sounds serious, what the fcuk are we gonna do!! :eek:

BrensBenz

"Masturbation gives you hairy palms and makes you bli "

Duggy747

davet82 wrote: »

that sounds serious, what the fcuk are we gonna do!! :eek:

Wash our clothes at 20° :pac:

The King of Moo

Now listen see, nobody's gonna wanna go to the pictures when they can watch a television set right in their own living room. I tell ya, by 1960 there won't be a movie theatre left in the country!

NIMAN

Most turn out to be anti-climatic, but they have to keep the Culture of Fear alive, don't they?

AnonoBoy

I've been drinking fluoridated water my hole liff and I'm styll smurter than most of those f*cking conspiracy theory nutts.

Turns out der woz nuthin' 2 wry butt........ *drools*

Dravokivich

davet82 wrote: »

that sounds serious, what the fcuk are we gonna do!! :eek:

Just knock a kettle on Dave and sprinkle the boiling water about.

smash

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

nothing happened at y2k because of the billion man hours of work that went into making sure nothing happened

And those who made billions putting in these man hours will tell you it would have been ok anyway.

jimmycrackcorm

GastroBoy wrote: »

Twink posing for Playboy......*shudder*

You've just made me zip up my Mickey...

StinkyMunkey

Video Killed the radio Star....!

El Guapo!

Remember we got those iodine tablets sent to us? What was that for again?!

kylith

The Rapture. Total let down. I'd got my good burgling outfit on and everything, and no-one was taken up into heaven.

1ZRed

Ciaran_B wrote: »

Global Warming/Climate Change
Acid Rain
Hole in Ozone layer
Bird Flu

And yet we're all still here. Humanity 1 - Panic Mongers 0

They are all real panics that happened and are currently happening. AFAIK bird flu is relatively under check and the hole in the ozone layer is slowly healing, but acid rain - acidification of the ocean, and climate change are massive current panics!

Superstorm Sandy was caused by more energy in the atmosphere caused by Global Warming and it's all getting worse and worse because nobody seems to be doing anything to curb Co2 levels, they're just talking about it.

The biggest mistake, and what'll most likely kill us eventually, is pretending it's not as bad as it is. I'm thinking it's too far gone as we get more hungry for resources, and so, Co2 levels keep skyrocketing - regardless of this talk of reducing emissions because it's just not going to dent the amount that's going into the atmosphere now, and in future.
People need to see it as a real and dangerous issue now and not a wind up.

/hippy rant :P

Standard Toaster

A Man-Made Black Hole from the LHC

Hippies!

Duggy747 wrote: »

Next, it's Lukewarm Universe.

The neutrinos have mutated! :eek:

kfallon

That fart in town one day when I pushed too hard and was sure I'd followed thru. My jocks didn't stick to me hole so knew I was in the clear, phew!

Gurgle

1ZRed wrote: »

Superstorm Sandy was caused by more energy in the atmosphere caused by Global Warming

Where did this nugget come from?

(I know this is AH and people trot out any old bollocks that pops into their heads, but still...)

seamus

smash wrote: »

And those who made billions putting in these man hours will tell you it would have been ok anyway.

OK in the sense that the world wouldn't have exploded, but there would certainly have been a fun few weeks in January and February 2000 where lots of corporations suffered major computer glitches.

If the issue had been completely ignored, then financially it could have had huge repercussions as stock markets and banking systems went into panic.

Turns out that we only delayed the inevitable by 8 years or so, but at least we couldn't blame it on a software glitch.

CruelCoin

1ZRed wrote: »

They are all real panics that happened and are currently happening. AFAIK bird flu is relatively under check and the hole in the ozone layer is slowly healing, but acid rain - acidification of the ocean, and climate change are massive current panics!

Superstorm Sandy was caused by more energy in the atmosphere caused by Global Warming and it's all getting worse and worse because nobody seems to be doing anything to curb Co2 levels, they're just talking about it.

The biggest mistake, and what'll most likely kill us eventually, is pretending it's not as bad as it is. I'm thinking it's too far gone as we get more hungry for resources, and so, Co2 levels keep skyrocketing - regardless of this talk of reducing emissions because it's just not going to dent the amount that's going into the atmosphere now, and in future.
People need to see it as a real and dangerous issue now and not a wind up.

/hippy rant

Dude, short of going back to living in caves and living meal to meal due to a lack of refrigeration, its not going to stop, so chiiill. (Not thats its real anyway, no matter what gore says).

Also, seeing as how 30 of all emissions are caused by flatulent farm animals, what do you propose there? Mandatory veganism?
(Don't you even dare think about taking my steaks away from me!)

1ZRed

Gurgle wrote: »

Where did this nugget come from?

(I know this is AH and people trot out any old bollocks that pops into their heads, but still...)

Hotter oceans + more heat = more energy.


Heat is energy, so the more you have the more violent and powerful storms of this type will become as they need heat to form.

Biggins

The King of Moo wrote: »

Now listen see, nobody's gonna wanna go to the pictures when they can watch a television set right in their own living room. I tell ya, by 1960 there won't be a movie theatre left in the country!

Wot ya on about!
Those darn movin' pictures thar with sound, they'll never catch on by-gum!

1ZRed

CruelCoin wrote: »

Dude, short of going back to living in caves and living meal to meal due to a lack of refrigeration, its not going to stop, so chiiill. (Not thats its real anyway, no matter what gore says).

Also, seeing as how 30 of all emissions are caused by flatulent farm animals, what do you propose there? Mandatory veganism?
(Don't you even dare think about taking my steaks away from me!)

How tf can someone not believe climate change is real? All or effects on the atmosphere have an effect. It's not coincidence or just natural that the temperature of the planet is rising.

The primary solution would be to push for a viable and efficient fuel that doesn't produce Co2. That would be a massive, massive thing and no need to go back to caves as you'd think, but progress in this area is stupidly slow.

iDave

After a bit of snow 2 winters ago we were supposed to be plunged into some sort of 10 years cycle of snowy winters.

latenia

I was on holiday in Vietnam during the SARS "crisis" and it helped turn it into the best trip ever. It seemed that there was only about 50 tourists in the entire country-between Saigon and Hanoi I kept running into the same people everywhere I went over a month. I was staying in nearly empty 5* hotels for $15 and best of all I was literally the only person in the walled city in Hué apart from the security guard at the gate and a guy in the gift shop.

stevedublin

1ZRed wrote: »

Superstorm Sandy was caused by more energy in the atmosphere caused by Global Warming

/hippy rant :P

Nonsense, superstorm Sandy was caused by HAARP to get Obama re-elected

Fits Morris

Amazingly enough that climate change thing that was a problem back in the 80s is still actually a problem.

Cabaal

Fits Morris wrote: »

Amazingly enough that climate change thing that was a problem back in the 80s is still actually a problem.

Indeed it is, and approx 98% of scientists worldwide agree it is an actual issue.

The media of course would make you believe its closer to only 50% agreeing on it,

Fromthetrees

kfallon wrote: »

That fart in town one day when I pushed too hard and was sure I'd followed thru. My jocks didn't stick to me hole so knew I was in the clear, phew!

As one gets older one learns to never trust a fart.

Mr. CooL ICE

Aliens from one of Jupiter's moons were living in a lake under Antarctica. Or something like that.

Zillah

Gurgle wrote: »

Where did this nugget come from?

(I know this is AH and people trot out any old bollocks that pops into their heads, but still...)

Saying that Global Warming caused the storm is a rather gross simplification, but the idea behind it is sound. That's the whole point of the term "climate change". We heat up the planet, which leads to a more energetic climate, which leads to more extreme weather patterns. We couldn't possibly say that any given storm happened because of climate change, but storms will tend to be more frequent and more destructive the more the planet heats up, yes.

Zillah

THAT WHOLE SMALLPOX THING WAS TOTALLY OVERBLOWN

PogMoThoin

1ZRed wrote: »

How tf can someone not believe climate change is real? All or effects on the atmosphere have an effect. It's not coincidence or just natural that the temperature of the planet is rising.

The primary solution would be to push for a viable and efficient fuel that doesn't produce Co2. That would be a massive, massive thing and no need to go back to caves as you'd think, but progress in this area is stupidly slow.

Eh, the temperature of this planet has always been changing, a few thousand years ago we had an ice age

Ray Palmer

keano_afc wrote: »

Y2K.

Load of hullabuloo.

That would because people spent years fixing the problem before hand. I found a y2k bug a few months ago.

1ZRed

Zillah wrote: »

Saying that Global Warming caused the storm is a rather gross simplification, but the idea behind it is sound. That's the whole point of the term "climate change". We heat up the planet, which leads to a more energetic climate, which leads to more extreme weather patterns. We couldn't possibly say that any given storm happened because of climate change, but storms will tend to be more frequent and more destructive the more the planet heats up, yes.

Actually yeah, I agree with you, though I didn't mean to imply it was the sole cause of the storm, but it's no doubt climate change had an effect on it's severity mainly because there is more energy in our atmosphere now.

Earthhorse

Huge efforts were also put into ensuring infected animals and meat were destroyed and the disease wasn't spread in the case of CJD too, which is the example in the OP. The Millenium Bug falls into the same category; lots of scare mongering but very little fall out in the end.

Robbo

The Euro collapsing and us returning to the Punt. Every second day there was some goon on here saying that his friends cousins windowcleaner was talking to a guy who works in the mint and they were printing up the ould James Joyce greenbacks to beat the band.

BrensBenz

"Your car runs on....LPG????? Jayzus, don't park it near me!"